Machine for preparing fruit for canning.



No. 746,531. PATENTBD DEC. 8, 1903.

W. J. LATGHPORD.

MACHINE FOR PREPARING 'FRUIT FOR OANNING.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 16, 1903. N0 MODEL. Y 2 SHBETS SHEET 1 TEENTOR" sv mwh MATT RNEYS m: mourns Pcnns cu puormnmo. mwmomm u r.

No. 746,531. PATENTED DEC. 8, 1903.-

W. J. LATOHFORD.

MACHINE FOR PREPARING FRUIT FOR CANNING.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 16, 1903. H0 MODEL.

2 SHEETS-SHEET Z.

WITNESSES:

INVENTOR WATTORNEYS No. 746,531. I p l Patented December 8, 1903. UNITED 7 STATES PATENT OFFICE.

, WILLIAM J. LATOHFORD, OF VANWERT, OHIO, ASSIGNOR OF TWO-THIRDS TO ROYAL PACKING COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

MACHINE FOR PREPARING FRUIT FOR CANNING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 746,531, dated December 3- Application filed February 16, 1903. Serial No. 143,614. (No model.)

10 aZZ whom it may concern: the skin,which has been peeled back from the Beitknown that LWILLIAM J. LATCHFORD, side at which it was slit and remains adheracitizen of the United States, residing at Vanout only at the base around the aperture from wert, in the county of Van Wert and State of which the core has been removed, is grasped Ohio, have invented newand useful Improveby one hand of the operator, While with the ments in Machines for Preparing Fruit for' other hand the fruit is withdrawn from the Canning, of which the following is a specificaholder, thus completing the stripping and distion, reference being had to the accompanycharging the fruit, which can be done withing drawings, forming a part thereof. out interrupting the travel ,of the carrier,

10 The purpose of this invention is to provide whose movement is com paratively slow. an improved apparatus for handling fruit, In detail the mechanism above outlined particularly such as tomatoes,through the comprises a frame consisting of longitudinal steps preparatory to canning, performing au-. parallel side bars 1 1,framed together by crosstomatically the process of removing the skin. bars 2 2 and provided with suitable standards 15 It consists in the features of construction set or legs 3 3, and on this frame driving and out in the claims. carrying wheels 4 5 for an endless carrier,

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevawhich comprises the parallel chains 6 6, contion of my machine for the purpose stated. nected at intervals by flights or cross-bars 7 Fig. 2 is a plan view. Fig. 3 is a section at 7 7, &c., on which are mounted rigidly the 20 the line 3 3 on Fig. 1. Fig. 4=is a detail secfruit-standards 8 8, having at their upper tion at the line 4 4 on Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a deends arms 9 9, turned forwardly with respect tail of a rubber wiper-disk for strippingback to the direction of travel of the chain, said the skin of the fruit. Fig. 6 is a figure Slllllarms having a reduced portion or pin 11 at lar to Fig. 5, showing a rubber disk having a the forward end extending back to a shoul- 25 central aperture largerthan that of the wiper; der 12 and adapted to be thrust into the fruit shown in Fig. 5. Fig. '7 is a figure similar to to engage the latter, which is stopped against Fig. 5, showing a rubber wiper-disk having a said shoulder. At the right-hand end of the central aperture larger than those shown in frame of the machine it has a covered portion Figs. 5 and 6. Fig. 8 isa section at the line 8 8 constituting a small table 13, above which 50 on Fig. 5. Fig. 9 is asection at the line!) 9 on there is mounted in suitable bearings and Fig. 6. Fig. 10 is a section at the line 10 10 provided with means hereinafter described for on Fig. 7. rotating a corer 14, which consists of a hol- My improved machine for thep urpose low half-cone having an axial stem 15, constated comprises a device for removing what stituting a shaft by means of which it is jour- 5 are called the cores, consisting of the hard naled for rotation, and on the table, convenportion around the stem end,and a device for iently located with respect to the corer, there slitting thesk'in into quarter-sectionsby two is mounted a device for slitting the skin in transverse cuts at the surface opposite the quarter-sections, consisting of two blades 16 stem end of the fruit, and following these de- 16, mounted rigidly at right angles in the 40 vices an endless carrier on which are carried table and projecting up only a sufficient dis- 9o stems or fingers for holding the fruit to be tance so that the operator by pressing the treated and a succession of devices operatfruitquickly upon the upstanding edges of ing upon the fruit as it is carried through the the knives will produce the desired quartermachine by suchcarrier, said devices being, ing-slits in the skin, after which the skin,

45 first, a succession of water-jets for cleansing being thrust against the rotatingcorer 14, is 5 the fruit; second, a succession of steam-jets cleared of the hard center at the base, called arranged in position to discharge steam upon the core. The operator then applies the the fruit within a closed chamber for loosenfruit on the pin of the fruit-standard, which ing the skin; third, flexible wipers for stripis next carried by on the upper flight of the 50 ping back the skin. After passing the wipers chain, by which it is carried onward through the box 17, which incloses the nozzles 18, by which the water is discharged onto the fruit to cleanse it thoroughly, after which it passes by the steam-discharge nozzles 19, which are adjusted to direct jets of steam upon the periphery of the fruit at several points in the circumference, preferably substantially at right angles to the axis of the pins on which the fruit is carried, so that the tendency to free the fruit from the pin shall be as little as possible, and at the same time the discharge may be in position to reach the more firmly adherent portion of the skin at the base of the fruit. After passing through the box 17 and emerging therefrom at the farther end, the skin being thoroughly loosened by the steam, each piece of fruit is carried on the pin 11 through the wiper 20. This wiper consists of a disk of sheet-rubber or like elastically-flexible material mounted by its edges on a frame 21, which is supported fixedly on the arches 22, which are secured on the side bars 1 1 transversely with respect to the travel of the carrier. The rubber wiper-disk has an aperture 23 at the center and is slit back from said aperture radially with respect thereto, one of the slits being directly downward at the middle and others preferably-in positions to'cut the disk into four quarters, each constituting a flap free at the edge next to the aperture. The first-mentioned slit 20, extending downward from the hole 23, is in the path of the fruit-standards as they are carried by the carrier, and the aperture is in the path of the fruit carried on the pin 11, so that as each piece of fruit reaches the wiper the quartered and loosened skin is engaged by the flaps as they yield, while the fruit is forced through the slit rubber sheet and the skin is stripped back as it might be by human hands handling the fruit. I employ any,convenient or necessary number of these wipers in succession along the path of the carrier, the apertures 23 being preferably successively smaller and smaller as the fruit advances, the aperture in the first wiper being from three to four inches in diameter, the next an inch smaller, and the last one quite small, not larger, in any event, than the diameter of the shoulder or larger portion of the pin 11. This gradation in size of the apertures causes the flaps of the first wiper to engage the skin near the outer circum ference of the larger tomatoes and strip it back past the point of greatest diameter and as much farther down on the rear side as the inner edges of the flaps will reach. The next wiper will perform the same function for smaller tomatoes and will engage the skin which the first wipers have stripped back from larger tomatoes and strip it still farther back on the rear side, and the last wiper, which is preferably made of thinner more flexible sheet-rubber, will open to admit the peeled fruit and will close together behind it and engage the skin and strip it back close over the base of the arm 9, so that in the finishing action the operator merely grasps the skin as it envelops the base of the spindle and holds it thereon with the right hand while the fruit is removed with the left and then readily strips it off from the pin 11, leaving the latter clean for the next operation.

The efficiency of the flaps of the Wiper for the purpose for which they are provided, as above described, is increased by having their attachment not in the line at which they would most easily fold back upon encountering the fruit, but t a line, whether curved or angular, which is concave toward the center or path of the fruit, because when thus attached the encounter with the fruit tends not only to fold them back, but also to buckle or belly them at the middle of the widththat is, along a line from the most recessed or remote point of their attachment toward the center, and this somewhat stiffens them against the folding in the other direction and causes them to press more effectively upon the fruit as they fold back for the purpose of engaging the skin. I have therefore shown the frames to which the flaps are attached as square, each flap being attached at the outer end along two sides of the square.

In my application for a machine for a similar purpose, Serial No. 139,735, filed January 20, 1903, I have shown a carrier for holding and carrying the fruit, means for steaming the fruit to loosen the skin, means consisting of wipers for engaging and stripping back the skin, and cutters for slitting the skin of the fruit and have broadly claimed said elements in their several combinations, and I do not in this case, therefore, claim the same thus broadly.

I claim 1. An apparatus for the purpose indicated,

comprising a carrier for holding and carrying the fruit, and a wiper located in the path of the fruit as it is thus carried, consisting of flaps of flexible rubber fabric of such width as to substantially occlude the passage for the fruit, and secured fixedly at their ends more remote from the fruit, and extending transversely to the direction of travel of the carrier, and having their other ends in position to be encountered by the fruit and to yield as the fruit is forced past it.

2. An apparatus for the purpose indicated, comprising means for carrying the fruit, and means located on the path of the fruit as it is thus carried for stripping the skin therefrom, consisting of a disk or sheet of elasticallyflexible material apertured in the direct path of the center of the fruit, and slit back from such aperture to form flaps for wiping and dragging upon the surface of the fruit as the latter passes through the aperture.

3. An apparatus for the purpose indicated, comprising means for advancing the fruit along a definite path; a plurality of wipers located successively along such path for stripping the skin from the fruit, consisting each of a disk of elastically-flexible material apertured in the path of the center of the fruit,

and slit back fromsaid aperture toform flaps adapted to yield and drag back upon the fruit on all sides as it passes through such wipers.

4. An apparatus for the purpose indicated, comprising a carrier having means at intervals for holding thefruit; means for steaming the fruit to loosen the skin, located along the path of the fruit'as it is advanced by the carrier, and wipers also located in said path beyond the steaming devices for stripping back the skin, consisting of elastically-flexible flaps secured at one end, and at the other end extending in the path of the fruit, and adapted, upon encounter therewith, to yield back and drag upon the fruit as the latter passes.

5. An apparatus for the purpose indicated, comprising an endless carrier having at intervals bars or flights, each carrying a fruitstandard provided with a fruit-holding pin projecting forward in the path of travel;

means for slittingthe skin intosections, lo- I cated adjacent to the carrier at one end; a

steaming apparatus located along the path of the carrier next following the location of the slitting devices, consisting of a chamber having steam-jets discharging therein upon the fruit as it is carried therethrough by the carrier, and Wipers located along the path of the carrier beyond the steaming apparatus for stripping the skin from the steamed fruit, consisting of elastically-yielding flaps secured at one end, and at the other end extending in the path of the fruit, whereby it is adapted, upon encounter therewith, to yield and drag back over the fruit to frictionally engage aud strip back the skin.

6. An apparatus for the purpose indicated, comprising an endless carrier and horizontally-jou rnaled wheels by which it is operated, said carrier having means at intervals for holding the fruit; devices located along the upper flight of the carrier in the path of the fruit for steaming the same to loosen the skin, and wipers beyond the steaming devices consistin g of elastically-yielding flaps secured at one end and at the other endextending in the path of the fruit, whereby it is adapted, upon encounter therewith, to yield back over the fruit for frictionally engaging and stripping the skin.

7. An apparatus for the purpose indicated, comprising a carrier for holding and carrying the fruit, and a plurality of wipers located successively in the path of the fruit as it is thus carried, each consisting of elasticallyflexible flaps secured fixedly at one end, and having the other end in position to be encountered by the fruit and to yield as the fruit is forced past it for stripping the skin back by frictional engagement therewith, the said wipers having their respective flaps successively obtruded farther and farther from the center of the path of the fruit, whereby the Wipers successively strip the skin back farther and farther toward the center on the'rear side.

8. An apparatus for the purpose indicated, comprising a carrier having pins projecting forwardly in the path of travel for holding and carrying the'fruit; a plurality of wipers located successively in the path of the fruit as it'is thus carried, consisting each of elas tically-flexible flaps secured fixedly at one end, and having the other end in position to be encountered by the fruit and to yield as the fruit is forced past it for stripping the skin back by frictional engagement therewith, the last of said wipers having its flaps made of more flexible material than the preceding, and extended toward the center far enough to wipe the base of the pin.

9. An apparatus for the purpose indicated, comprising a carrier for holding and carrying the fruit, and a wiper located in the path of the fruit as it is thus carried, consisting of elasticallyflexible flaps having one end protruding in the path of the fruit, and the other end more remote from said path secured fixedly at a line which is concave toward said path. 7

10. An apparatus for the purpose indicated, comprising a carrier for holding and carrying the fruit, and wipers located in the path of the fruit as it is thus carried, consisting of disks of elastically-flexible material apertured at the center in the path of the fruit,

and slit backkradially from said aperture to divide it into flaps; an angular frame to which such disks are secured at their periphery, each subdivision or flap having attachmentto the aperture at two sides about an angle thereof.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, in the presence of two witnesses, at Chicago, Illinois, this 10th day of February, A. D. 1903.

WILLIAM J. LATOHFORD. In presence of-- CHAs. S. BURTON, FRED. G. FISCHER. 

